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The Airline Project Next Gen, a new offline airline tycoon for PC

Started by Tjoeker, September 20, 2020, 01:53:45 PM

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Tjoeker

Hey transport tycoons! It has been a while since I've been here, but spent countless hours in the past, and I always come back to it. :)

I'm an indie developer creating an airline tycoon, called The Airline Project. I thought you may be interested.
It has been a while since there has been a good offline airline tycoon for pc, and I want to change that. In 3 days we will launch a Kickstarter to further fund the development. Every little bit helps!



You can subscribe for a notification on the launch here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tjoeker/the-airline-project-next-gen



The Airline Project will have all basic features you'd expect from an airline tycoon: you purchase or lease aircraft (we have 967 real life models), edit the cabin configuration, pick engines and improvements like winglets. After that you get to set up routes between any of our 4000+ airports. You set up the IFS, IFE and ticket prices. Meanwhile you try your best to satisfy your employees to avoid strikes. Like I said it has all basic features you'd expect from an airline tycoon.



Besides the basics I believe we also have a bunch of innovating features:

 

  • The history of aviation and the world is implemented with care. The game starts as early as 1920. We try our best to immerse you in the era you're playing. You will find correct planes, we have the history of airports written out as they were in real life, the demand is correct for the era, the country relations change over time, and so on. You will have to change your strategy to cope with wars, decolonization and the fall of the Iron Curtain.
  • We have an accurate demand calculation tested against many real world routes and smart passengers that make decisions based on many factors like price, reputation, departure/arrival time, connecting vs direct, ... Allowing you to try out many different strategies with different effects.
  • An innovative flight scheduler: you get to schedule your flights to the minute, but you can let the AI help you streamline the process to various degrees. From no interference at all, to suggestions, to full automatic based on parameters you feed it like how many daily flights and departure/arrival banks.
  • Fine-tune your sandbox to your needs: you can select what laws and rules you want to play with. If you want full realism you can choose to play with night curfews, noise restrictions, the freedoms of the air, ...
   
   
Finally, I have some more pictures for you:

Watch the world change over time:


Hawaiian airports in 1985:


Airport tooltip for Rome Ciampino


Here are some useful links to stay tuned on development:

    Website: https://theairlineproject.net/
    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAirlineProject/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAirline
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/TAPNextGen
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6kEsubHKmGa0l8b5KQBF2Q
    Sign up for our Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/2a8c00c89a23/theairlineproject

You can have a go at our previous version TAPv2. The download is available on itch.io. This version does contain bugs and is not the nicest looking game. We are aware. Consider it our open prototype version. With the Kickstarter campaign we will be elevating the game to the standard of commercial games. We started from scratch for the new version, we learned a lot from TAPv2.

Feel free to ask any questions. Also, don't hold back on feature requests.

Isaac Eiland-Hall

Abusing screenshots to make a silly joke:


https://ieh.im/i/200920-122226.png

"Watch the world change over time" — wow, look at that sea level rise! It really DID change over time! :)

(I had to blur out the explanation of the second shot to make that silly joke work, of course)




I'm definitely checking out the previous version, as I haven't played anything quite like that, so definitely worth a look, thanks.

Meanwhile, speaking of reddit — if you ever want a hand keeping an eye out for spam and/or rude comments, please let me know. I've been a redditor since 2009; was a default sub mod for a few years, but not anymore. I mods several small subs, and I created /r/Townscaper and /r/PocketCity for those two games as well as /r/Simutrans for us here. On a typical day, I check the comment queues for my subreddits 3-5 times to keep an eye out for inappropriate/rude comments; and I also check every single submission in the unmoderated queue to approve or remove as needed; I'd be happy to stay out of your way and only eliminate spam or rude comments, if you'd like a hand. If so, lemme know. I'm also /u/IsaacEiland-Hall. And if not, no offense taken in the slightest. :)

Best of luck with the project! I'm definitely checking it out and will keep an eye on this. Also, LOL that in today's environment you have to specify "offline" game. But like when Pocket City promised "no microtransactions", such a thing is definitely a plus for interested folks like me. :)

Tjoeker

A reply from the administrator himself, I'm honored! :D

So you're saying the alps will shrink, and the balkans/Turkey will become the new highest point of Europe soon,  ???  ;D

I'll remember the application. At the moment It's quite easy to keep track of the reddit. If you also have a Discord account, I will set up a channel soon, and I think I may need help there sooner. ;)


And yes, I consider 'offline' to be a selling point of the game. :D
There are multiple online airline tycoons, but they have flaws in that most people want to set up 5* star airlines while in reality there can only be a handful to be profitable. ^^

Thanks for the kind words!

Isaac Eiland-Hall

Quote from: Tjoeker on September 20, 2020, 04:51:04 PMA reply from the administrator himself, I'm honored!

As much as I love to pretend to be a dictator, I am just a janitor, really. And not even the sole admin anymore. :)

Quote from: Tjoeker on September 20, 2020, 04:51:04 PMSo you're saying the alps will shrink, and the balkans/Turkey will become the new highest point of Europe soon,  ??? 

AND the remaining land will get new, weird names! hehe

Quote from: Tjoeker on September 20, 2020, 04:51:04 PMIf you also have a Discord account, I will set up a channel soon, and I think I may need help there sooner.

I do indeed and would be glad to help there, too. I'm not a huge Discord expert, but I've set up two for different projects so far, so I can help. And I'm in several, so I keep an eye on things.

And on reddit, whatever's useful to you, no worries. Can understand - have had multiple offers in a couple of subs that I haven't taken up because they're just too slow to need anything. hehe

Quote from: Tjoeker on September 20, 2020, 04:51:04 PMAnd yes, I consider 'offline' to be a selling point of the game.

It definitely is! :)